How To
A Fine I-Cord Edging
When I finished knitting the 210 very long rows of my Volt shawl, and it was time to commence the applied I-cord edging, it was frightfully exciting.
Grace Anna Farrow’s instructions for Volt instruct, in the elegantly economical way that I have come to expect of her patterns, how to do the I-cord edging along the live stitches as a bind-off, and on the side edges (the row ends) via the pick-up-a-stitch-and-attach-it-as-you-go method.
I’ve applied miles of 3- or 4-stitch I-cord in a similar manner to all kinds of projects needing a tidy, smooth edge. I love it so much it’s ridiculous. I don’t just love applied I-cord in the casual sense of “I find this technique quite useful and good.” I love it in the way that I love a small mixed-breed terrier or candied orange peel or the quilts of Gee’s Bend.
I do not want to contemplate a life that does not include attaching I-cord to things on a regular basis.
The concept of applied I-cord is this: you cast on 4 (or 3) stitches and begin to knit an I-cord, and apply–or attach–it to the edge of a piece by knitting the last stitch of each round of I-cord together with a stitch on the edge of the main piece.
I do applied I-cord the same way, whether my “edge stitch” results from a live stitch sitting there waiting to be bound off, or from picking it up. For a 4-stitch I-cord, it goes like this:
K3, k2tog (the last stitch of the I-cord with the edge stitch) THROUGH THE BACK LOOPS, slip all 4 stitches back onto left needle.
[Note: I use two straight needles for applied I-cord. Ann advocates using double-pointed needles to avoid having to transfer the stitches back to the left needle on every round. With double-pointed needles, you can just slip the stitches to the other end of the needle. Both methods are legit, so it’s a matter of personal preference.]
Here’s how the Volt instructions say to do it: K3, slip 1 (the last stitch of the I-cord), yo, k1 (the edge stitch), pass the slipped stitch and yarn-over over, replace stitches onto left-hand needle.
That slipping-the-yarnover business struck me as fiddly, and I wondered what it accomplished. I tried it out on my Volt, and saw that what it accomplishes is this: it hides that edge stitch, which in this case is in a contrasting color to the I-cord, in a neat and tidy manner.
But my way, a plain old k2tog through the back loops, does the same thing. And to me it is easier and even a bit neater (because you don’t have to pass a slipped stitch and a yarnover over, which can lead to an irregular or elongated stitch, although you probably get real good at it and stop having this problem in the course of a whole shawl’s worth of I-cord).
Here’s how it would look if you did a k2tog the regular way:
See (on the left) how that grey stitch stands up straight and calls attention to itself? We’re not having any of THAT. That is abhorrent to all right-minded knitters, an affront to our ideals of workmanship. We will avoid it at all costs, including, if we have to, passing over a slipped stitch and a yarnover.
Here’s how it looks the way I do it, working a k2tog through the back loop (the section of I-cord on the right):
The gray edge stitch is neatly tucked under the I-cord.
Here’s how it looks on the wrong side:
The neatness of the join on the wrong side gives me unspeakable joy.
I-cord is all about the neatness, but there is more than one way to do neatly.
I found my way to this entry from today’s (1-17-17) about your Hap Happiness, and enjoyed reading and studying it – can’t wait to use it, and will try your knit-through-the-back-loops method. And since there were no comments – how could there be no comments on such a clever and useful tutorial – I decided I would leave one to say thank you. So – thank you!
Beautiful! This has always had me baffled about how to do this soooo neatly. I see this getting worked into a new project. Hmmm I wonder what it will be?
Found this article when Googling ‘neat i-cord’. Your explanation is great, however all the pictures are missing except the first one of the shawl. Would love to see the examples; that said, I immediately started using your technique anyway.
Like the previous commenter: I don’t get the pictures except the first one. Could they be re-posted or something? Pretty please??
Running to fetch them, please stand by….
Thank you Thank you! I’m psyching myself up to start the Volt, have the kit and everything, so I just needed some encouraging photos! (PS wondering if you did yours with all the increases on the right side like so many knitters on Ravelry did?)
This was perfect timing. I saw this link today on facebook (6-19-18) just when I was needing a stretchy icord edging for a shawl. By incorporating the YO into the stitches I give myself just a bit more give in that edge. So that is worth the slightly extra amount of time it takes to do it for me.
K2tog though back loop is definitely the wtg (a non-knitting instruction).
Such neatly tucked and hidden stitches ! Only way to go !
Do you knit the I cord with the right side facing you?
Found this today (7/22/19) doing a google search for attached i-cord. I REALLY love your explanation & am ridiculously excited to try this out. This is by far the best explanation for attached i-cord on the entire internet! Thank you so much!
Beautiful. How do I do this to a large baby alpaca squares Afghan as an edge